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SMOOTH WATERS. Wilson’s Conner Schell helped the Rams to a league title, winning the 500-yard freestyle and finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke.
Photo by Rocky Ross / The Tacoma Weekly

WILSON SWIMS TO LEAGUE TITLE

Piling up 344 points as a team, Wilson won the 3A title at the Narrows League Championships on Jan. 31 at Mount Tahoma High School.

Senior Cody Dodge helped the Rams get off to a good start, winning the 200-yard freestyle in a time of 1:52.77, and later added a second-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke. Junior Connor Schell added a win in the 500-yard freestyle and a second-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke, and Austin Lawrence took second in the 50-yard freestyle and third in the 100-yard freestyle. Jesse Gayvoronski added second-place finishes in both the 100- and 200-yard freestyles, Alex Gayvoronski took second in the 100-yard butterfly and the Rams won both the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

Foss’ Ryan Waller earned a district-qualifying time in finishing fourth in the 100-yard breaststroke, and the Falcons earned district times in both the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. Lincoln took sixth with a district time in the 200-yard freestyle relay.

Gig Harbor cruised to the 4A title, but Stadium settled for second place, as Noah Willers highlighted the effort by winning the 200-yard freestyle in a state-qualifying time of 1:49.70. Willers narrowly missed another state time in taking second in the 500-yard freestyle, and Kyle Marr took third in both the 50- and 100-yard freestyles for the Tigers.

Sophomore Sam Hoag took second in the 100-yard breaststroke, and classmate Seamus Grant added a third-place finish in the 100-yard backstroke.

The 4A West Central District meet begins at Curtis High School on Feb. 6 at 4 p.m. with the diving competition. The swim prelims take place on Feb. 7 at 4:30 p.m., with the finals on Feb. 8 at 4:30 p.m. The 3A district meet begins at Hazen High School on Feb. 14 at 4:30 p.m., with finals on Feb. 15 at 5 p.m.

LINCOLN RETIRES MONTGOMERY’S JERSEY

Lincoln honored former girls basketball star Alex Montgomery before its home game against Wilson on Jan. 31, retiring Montgomery’s No. 21 jersey. Since playing for the Abes, the 2006 graduate played four years for Georgia Tech University and completed her third season with the WNBA’s New York Liberty in the fall.

In her senior season at Lincoln, Montgomery led the Lady Abes to a 25-3 record, including a 14-0 record in the Narrows League Bay Division, as it was referred to then. Montgomery put up eye-popping numbers that season, averaging 22.3 points, 18.8 rebounds, eight assists and 6.4 blocks per game in leading the Abes to the state tournament for the first time in 18 years.

She moved on to Georgia Tech, where she averaged 10.8 points per game as a freshman but suffered a torn ACL in her sophomore year. But Montgomery rebounded, averaging 13.9 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in her senior season. That helped her stock skyrocket, as she was selected as the tenth overall pick in the WNBA draft by the Liberty in April 2011. Montgomery recently finished her most productive season as a pro, appearing in all 34 games and averaging 6.1 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest.

LADY LOGGERS MOVE TO FOURTH

A couple of big road wins last weekend helped the University of Puget Sound women’s basketball team move up to fourth place in the Northwest Conference Standings.

The Loggers cruised to a 71-54 win at Linfield on Jan. 31, as they never trailed in the contest. Emily Sheldon led the way for UPS with a game-high 20 points, going 7-for-11 from the field, and Katy Ainslie had 12 points and eight rebounds. Allie Wyszynski came off the bench to add 15 points for the Loggers, who out-rebounded the Wildcats 46-34.

They followed that with a 75-71 win at Lewis & Clark on Feb. 1, coming back from a 12-point deficit early in the second half. Amanda Forshay led the way with a game-high 22 points, while Erin Stumbaugh came off the bench to score 16 points and Ainslie and Taylor Jones had 10 points apiece. The win helped the Loggers jump Lewis & Clark in the conference standings, as they moved to 6-4 and sat in fourth place.

LUTES SPLIT OPENING DOUBLEHEADER

Pacific Lutheran got an early start to the baseball season, splitting a doubleheader at home against Concordia on Feb. 3.

The Lutes fell 5-3 in the opener, as they managed to go just 6-for-31 collectively at the plate. Third baseman Drew Oord helped pull the Lutes within 3-2 with a single to score Jacob Clements in the bottom of the sixth, and Kyle Pegram scored Curtis Wildung with a sacrifice fly to pull even in the seventh. But reliever Chris Bishop surrendered a run-scoring double to Ben Talbot in the eighth that would end up being the game-clincher. Lutes starter Trevor Lubking pitched 5.2 innings and allowed three runs on eight hits, with one walk and six strikeouts.

Wildung’s fifth-inning solo homerun was the Lutes’ only hit in game two, but it was all the offense they needed in a 1-0 win over Concordia. Starting pitcher Derrick Mahlum collected the win in surrendering just four hits in 6.2 innings, with no walks and seven strikeouts.